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Candlelight vigil for Conn. shooting victims set in Lebanon County

Candles Across Lebanon County will be held Friday evening along Route 422 in honor of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims

By JOHN LATIMERLebanon Daily News

Updated:
12/20/2012 05:06:26 PM EST

Frank Kulick, adjusts a display of wooden crosses, and a Jewish Star of David, representing the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, on his front lawn, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. (AP Photo/David Goldman) (David Goldman)

A community-organized candlelight vigil will be held Friday to memorialize those who lost their lives in last week's shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Called Candles Across Lebanon County, the vigil will take place from 6 to 7 p.m. Friday at designated locations along Route 422, where people are invited to gather to hold a candle in remembrance of the 20 first-graders and six staff members of Sandy Hook Elementary School who were gunned down Friday morning.

The vigil was organized rapidly through social networking after Lebanon County Commissioner Jo Ellen Litz posted a message on her Facebook page Sunday night stating she had been contacted by many people searching for a way to show love and support to those who grieving in Connecticut.

One of the messages, Litz said, was from April Murray of Annville, who suggested a county-wide vigil similar to Hands Across America - a 1986 event in which nearly 7 million people joined hands nationwide to raise money for the homeless and hungry.

Litz took Murray's idea one step further and suggested it could be done along Route 422, which stretches from the Berks County line east of Myerstown to the Dauphin County line in Palmyra. Litz even offered her lot in West Lebanon Township as a meeting spot.

"This would show that we as a county stand as one, love our children and grieve along with those in Newtown," Litz wrote.

Litz also asked for help organizing the vigil, and her Facebook friends sprung into action.

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Within minutes, replies started pouring into Litz's Facebook page with offers from owners of businesses along Route 422 to use their properties as a "Point of Light" meeting place. Others suggested meeting places and offered to speak with the owners to get permission. Still others volunteered to serve as Point of Light coordinators as each location, where they will serve as greeters.

One man, Bill Hartman, offered the use of his 20-foot inflatable screen to show a video tribute to the victims.

On Monday afternoon, the Lebanon Valley Mall agreed to make room for the screen and offered the use of its western parking area near a vacant anchor store once occupied by Ames, Litz said.

By Monday evening, more than a dozen business owners had offered their properties, and the list was expected to grow as the word spread on Facebook, Litz said. About 7,000 people had been contacted through Facebook invites, and nearly 400 had responded that they would be there.

"It started with my inquiry of would you consider participating, and almost immediately I felt the love of the county and the feeling of wanting to come together," Litz said. "It was just really all through social media. It's just unbelievable how this has taken off - we've gone viral."

While specific details are still being worked out, participants will be expected to provide their own candles or glow sticks. Singers to lead the crowd in "Amazing Grace" and "God Bless America" are also being recruited.

Safety is a concern, and participants are being encouraged to wear light clothing so they will be easily seen, Litz said.

"We are looking for places with adequate parking and want people to wear light clothing and stand behind the curb - those kind of things," she said. "We want people to be safe and give each other hugs. The whole idea is for a place where people can gather."

While Friday's vigil may be a symbolic one, Litz said, she is also working on a constructive one that would bring local experts in the mental health field together at a town hall to speak about mental health issues and how they relate to last week's shooting. More information on that will be released as it becomes available.

The following are locations along Route 422 where people have permission to gather for Friday night's candlelight vigil:

633 W. Lincoln Ave., old airport, Myerstown

880 E. Lincoln Ave., Myerstown

Ebersole's Used Car Lot. 15th Avenue, east of Lebanon

Stalnecker's, 306 Cumberland St., Lebanon

Inspired Images, 533 Cumberland St., Lebanon

Lebanon Valley Mall. Park in the old Ames lot, and gather between Dunkin Donuts and A-1.